Nearly 300 police officers arrived to put an end to the peaceful protest. Another officer interpreted this as an order and opened fire, triggering a lethal fusillade as 168 police constables followed his example. Eyewitness accounts of the Sharpeville massacre 1960 But change can also be prompted by seemingly minor events in global affairs, such as the Sharpeville massacre – the so-called butterfly effect. Eyewitness accounts attest to the fact that the people were given no warning to disperse. As the number of UN members from Africa increased, the commission reversed its “no power to act” position and turned its attention to the human rights situation in South Africa. The History of Us® is a registered trademark, View other events that happened on March 21. The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng ). In similar demonstrations at the police station in Vanderbijlpark, another person was shot. 10 things you need to know about the Sharpeville Massacre [7][8], On 21 March 1960, a group of between 5,000 and 10,000 people converged on the local police station, offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passbooks. Freedom Now Suite includes the composition "Tears for Johannesburg" in response to the massacre. The use of low flying aircraft to seek to break the crowd up would be one such measure. At a press conference on 18 March he further stated: "I have appealed to the African people to make sure that this campaign is conducted in a spirit of absolute non-violence, and I am quite certain they will heed my call. The presence of armoured vehicles and air force fighter jets overhead also pointed to unnecessary provocation, especially as the crowd was unarmed and determined to stage a non-violent protest. During those five months roughly 25,000 people were arrested throughout the nation. Pass laws, intended to control and direct their movement and employment, were updated in the 1950s. Sources disagree as to the behaviour of the crowd: some state that the crowd was peaceful, while . There were 249 victims in total, including 29 children, with 69 people killed and 180 injured. Causes Of The Sharpeville Massacre - 1710 Words There was blood streaming down my leg. The intent of the protest was for the South African government to rethink their Apartheid policies and abolish such practices. The eyes of the world would turn to Sharpeville again years later. March 21, 1960 | South African Police Kill 69 Black Protesters in ... The police assembled and used disproportionate responses to the protest. On this 60th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, the world should remember the contingency and fragility of the international human rights law system that we so easily take for granted today. I will argue that the massacre created a major short-term crisis for the apartheid state, a crisis which appeared to Sharpeville marked a turning point in South Africa's history; the country found itself increasingly isolated in the international community. © Baileys African History Archive (BAHA)Crowds fleeing from bullets on the day of the Massacre. Philip H. Frankel, An Ordinary Atrocity: Sharpeville and its Massacre (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001);  Henry F. Jackson, From the Congo to Soweto: U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Africa Since 1960 (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1982);  Meredith Martin, The History of Apartheid: The Story of the Colour War in South Africa (New York: London House & Maxwell, 1962). Log in here. Unlike elsewhere on the East Rand where police used baton when charging at resisters, the police at Sharpeville used live ammunition. By the time the National Party (NP) took power, the white minority controlled 92 percent of the land. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. First, the government declared a state of emergency and detained around 2,000 people. Nearly 300 police officers arrived to put an end to the peaceful protest. How the 1960 Sharpeville massacre sparked the birth of international ... Nobody dared say anything, because if you did you were arrested. This almost destroyed Black nationalist opposition in the subsequent decade, while the ‘stability’ thus imposed heralded a period of unequalled economic growth. Amid confusion, two shots were fired into the air by somebody in the crowd. PDF "A tragic turning-point: remembering Sharpeville fifty years on" The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was the result of a peaceful protest regarding racist South African policies of apartheid. 2 What were the causes of the Sharpeville massacre? To read more witness accounts of the Sharpeville Massacre, click on the 'Witness accounts' tab above. What was the impact of the massacre at Sharpeville? The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. It had wide ramifications and a significant impact. It was adopted on December 21 1965. In her poem "Our Sharpeville" she reflects on the atrocity through the eyes of a child. Yet only three policemen were reported to have been hit by stones - and more than 200 Africans were shot down. What were the results of Hitler's and Mussolini's ruling. There were hundreds of women, some of them laughing. The key developments were the adoption of Resolution 1235 in 1967, which allowed for the examination of complaints of “gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as exemplified by the policy of apartheid”, and Resolution 1503 in 1970, which allowed the UN to examine complaints of “a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights”. There is evidence that the PAC used intimidating means to draw the crowd to the protest, including the cutting of telephone lines into Sharpeville, the distribution of pamphlets telling people not to go to work on the day, and coercion of bus drivers. The Sharpeville Massacre, as the event has become known, signalled the start of armed resistance in South Africa, and prompted worldwide condemnation of South Africa's Apartheid policies. A later report would state over 700 bullets had been fired, all by police.3 Afterwards, some witnesses claimed they saw police putting guns and knives in the hands of dead victims, to make it look like the protestors were armed and violent. Oliver Tambo leaves the country under orders to work for the ANC cause from exile. Due to the illness, removals from Topville began in 1958. The plan was for protestors to march to the local police station without their passes and ask to be arrested. It was adopted on 21 December 1965. As part of its response, the General Assembly tasked the UN Commission on Human Rights to prepare the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the first global human rights treaty. We strive for accuracy and fairness. The Africanists followed a philosophy that a racially assertive sense of nationalism was needed to mobilise the masses, and they advocated a strategy of mass action (boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and non-cooperation). But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, the UN adopted a more interventionist stance to the apartheid state. Prakash Diar, a South African human rights lawyer, explains: “The whole world was outraged at what the police had done. By 10:00 am, a large crowd had gathered, and the atmosphere was peaceful and festive. Dr. Verwoerd praised the police for their actions. Latest answer posted August 12, 2017 at 12:30:58 PM. Many countries around the world condemned the atrocity. [2]:p.537 There was no evidence that anyone in the crowd was armed. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. He was released after 27 years and in 1994 was elected the first Black president of South Africa. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/21... What were the reasons for national resistance to the ideology and policies of apartheid? After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 protesters went to the police station. Buy the book Reviewed by Nicolas Van De Walle November/December 2011 Published on November 1, 2011 On March 21, 1960, police in Sharpeville, South Africa, shot hundreds of people protesting laws that restricted the movement of blacks. When protesters reconvened in defiance, the police charged at them with batons, tear gas and guns. Reddy. In order to reduce the possibility of violence, he wrote a letter to the Sharpeville police commissioner announcing the upcoming protest and emphasizing that its participants would be non-violent. According to the police, protesters began to stone them and, without any warning, one of the policemen on the top of an armoured car panicked and opened fire. I tried to hobble. In 1946, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first job was to draft a declaration on human rights. Omissions? Other PAC members tried to stop bus drivers from going on duty and this resulted in a lack transport for Sharpeville residents who worked in Vereeniging. The five men and one woman would become known as the Sharpeville Six – their case would attract international attention, once again putting Sharpeville on the world stage and exposing the inhumanity of the apartheid government.9. "What were the results of the Sharpeville massacre?" The Sharpeville Massacre occurred in a South Africa that denied the rights and freedoms of anyone who was not considered "white" under a system called "apartheid." Apartheid means "apartness" in the Afrikaans language. The adoption of the Race Convention was quickly followed by the international covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights in 1966, introduced to give effect to the rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At 13h15 a small scuffle began near the entrance of the police station. That impact is best broken down into its short-term, medium-term, and long-term significance. On 1 April 1960, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 134. Ambulances arrived and took victims to the hospital. [10] At about 13:00 the police tried to arrest a protester, and the crowd surged forward. Individuals over sixteen were required to carry passbooks, which contained an identity card, employment and influx authorisation from a labour bureau, name of employer and address, and details of personal history. After the Second World War the Herstigte ('Reformed' or 'Pure') National Party (HNP) came into power (by a slender majority, created through a coalition with the otherwise insignificant Afrikaner Party) in 1948. It was signed by President Nelson Mandela in the town of Sharpeville, very close to where the massacre had happened. Apartheid laws placed all South Africans into one of four racial categories: “white/European,” “native/black,” “coloured,” (people of “mixed race”) or “Indian/Asian.” White people – 15 percent of the South African population – stood at the top, wielding power and wealth. Enemity between Africans and white increased. The Sharpeville massacre represents a turning point in the history of apartheid. Police witnesses claimed that stones were thrown, and in a panicked and rash reaction, the officers opened fire into the crowd. In March 1960, a group called the Pan African Congress (PAC) decided to organize a peaceful protest in the black township of Sharpeville. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, It’s been 60 years since dozens of protesters were killed at a peaceful anti-apartheid rally in South Africa. These protests were to begin on 31 March 1960, but the rival Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), led by Robert Sobukwe, decided to pre-empt the ANC by launching its own campaign ten days earlier, on 21 March, because they believed that the ANC could not win the campaign. apartheid: aftermath of the deadly Sharpeville demonstration, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Sharpeville-massacre, Canadian Museum for Human Rights - The Sharpeville Massacre, South African History Online - Sharpeville Massacre, Sharpeville massacre - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Sharpeville massacre - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). What were the results of the Sepoy Mutiny? Sharpeville massacre Facts for Kids The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was the result of a peaceful protest regarding racist South African policies of apartheid. For the next two and a half decades, the commission held to this position on the basis that the UN Charter only required states to “promote”, rather than “protect”, human rights. The poet Duncan Livingstone, a Scottish immigrant from the Isle of Mull who lived in Pretoria, wrote in response to the Massacre the Scottish Gaelic poem Bean Dubh a' Caoidh a Fir a Chaidh a Marbhadh leis a' Phoileas ("A Black Woman Mourns her Husband Killed by the Police"). That date now marks the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and without the Sharpeville massacre, we may not have the international system of human rights that we have today. The violence of this day brought attention to the plight of blacks in South Africa. Latest answer posted August 05, 2019 at 3:40:37 PM, Latest answer posted July 25, 2019 at 1:45:35 AM, Latest answer posted June 12, 2018 at 7:15:48 AM.
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